Forks of the Road

Forks of the Road is the site of the second largest slave market in the U.S., with New Orleans having the largest.The market functioned from the 1820s to the Civil War.The site was recognized in 2004 following the efforts of a citizen group called the Forks of the Road Society.The historical marker reads:

“Site of the South’s second largest slave market in the nineteenth century.Enslaved people were also once sold on city streets and at the landing at Natchez Under the Hill.Natchez slaves were freed in July 1863 when Union troops occupied the city.The Forks of the Road market then became a refuge for hundreds of enslaves people.”

Sources:

Brown, Patricia Leigh. “New Signpost at Slavery’s Crossroads.”The New York Times.16 December 2004.